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A New Kind of Festival

Short of the Week is the top destination for short films, a trusted source by fans and industry since 2007, showcasing work from the next generation of storytellers.

Find Your Audience

You’ve worked tirelessly on your film—it deserves an audience. On Short of the Week, your film takes front page on the internet’s number one destination for short films where you’ll find thousands (and sometimes millions!) of new fans. Our team is made up of the industry’s top short film curators from Sundance, Vimeo, Tribeca, and Toronto. We know great film! Learn More about the Team

Launch Your Career

Whether you’re looking to break into the feature film industry, television, or fund your next project, Short of the Week is where the entertainment industry executives, agents, distributors, and producers are now looking for the next generation of storytellers. Short of the Week filmmakers have gone on to do great things with Netflix, Sundance, Fox, Warner, Disney, Hulu, WME, CAA, New York Times, and many more. We will help you coordinate your launch and seed your film with key industry influencers in advance to maximize impact.

Fast Response

Don’t wait months for an answer. You’ve got plans to make and films to shoot. Get a final response from us within 7 days.

Private

Not ready to launch yet? Whether you’re still finalizing your film or finishing up a festival run, you can still submit your film to take advantage of our industry network and help us make the most of your film launch.

Real Feedback

We know how frustrating it is to be declined and never know why. Now you can receive constructive feedback from the best curation team on what works and what doesn’t. (Additional fee)

$29

Guidelines

Before You Submit

Requirements

Length: Films need to be 40 minutes or less. We prefer most films sit on the shorter end of that spectrum—the average film we feature is 10 minutes. The longer your film (over 15 minutes), the tougher judges we tend to be.

Rights: We require films to have all necessary rights and releases secured for us to feature them. Yes, this includes music.

Free to View: We only select films that are free for audiences.

What to Expect

Learn more about why we do submissions the way we do, what we look for in a film, and see examples of real feedback we offer. Learn more

What We Look For

We look for great stories that brave new territory. We value great characters, interesting new worlds, and stories that surprise us over fancy visual effects, famous actors, or silly one-liners that often feed much of online videos. So when screening films, we tend to score them based on three attributes:

Head—Does it break new ground and have us thinking about something in a new way?

Another great way to determine what we are after is to simply watch the films we have featured thus far. You can get a good sense of our taste by looking at what we have curated in the past.

What We Avoid

We have no hard and fast rules. Every film is different and there are always exceptions. In general, though, the following tend to not be a good fit for us:

Music videos or abstract films with no or little story

Abstract fashion films with no or little story

Films driven solely by special effects

Commercials or purely promotional pieces (Branded films are okay)

Timelapse/ travel photography films

Comedy sketches based on a single punchline

Refund Policy

Unfortunately we cannot refund a submission fee once you’ve submitted your film. Please make absolutely sure you want to submit your film before doing so.

As with other festivals, your fee is paid for your film to be considered. By no means does submitting your film guarantee that your film will be accepted for Short of the Week. If your film is not accepted, your submission fee is not refunded. We receive thousands of submissions every year and only about 4% are selected (Learn more about our metrics).

If Your Film is Selected,

You will be provided with our Official Launch Guide to help you plan your launch.

You will be asked to specify a launch date for when you would like to release your film, and we will do our best to accommodate that date in our schedule—more advanced notice is better.

You will need to submit a copy of your film along with a press kit including film stills.

You will be asked to fill out additional information about your film so we can write an in-depth review.

FAQ

Will releasing my film online hurt my chances at film festivals?

This is one of the biggest scares for filmmakers (it was ours, too). So we did the research and found that 2/3rds of the top film festivals will accept online films (66% in 2013). And with heavyweights like Sundance and SXSW leading the charge, this is clearly a growing trend. If you want to know about a specific festival, take a look at our Essential List of Festival Eligibility to see if the festivals you’re considering are online-friendly.

Do you accept film trailers?

Yes. Sending a trailer is a great way to get a film on our radar early so that we can best help coordinate a successful launch. If we like your trailer, we will tentatively accept it. You’ll then be asked to resubmit the final cut (at no extra charge) where we’ll deliver our final verdict.

Do you accept incomplete films (for example, a film with scratch music)?

Yes. Sending an incomplete film is a great way to get a film on our radar early so that we can best help coordinate a successful launch. If we like your trailer, we will tentatively accept it. You’ll then be asked to resubmit the final cut (at no extra charge) where we’ll deliver our final verdict.

Is Short of the Week affiliated with Vimeo?

No. We operate independently and there is no connection between the two services. All curatorial and editorial decisions are made independently.

If I’m accepted to Short of the Week, will I be a Staff Pick on Vimeo?

No. We have no affiliation with Vimeo. While there is certainly overlap between the films we feature and those selected by Vimeo and other film curation sites, we operate under completely independent curatorial guidelines.

Where should I host my film for the submission?

We prefer films be uploaded to either Vimeo or YouTube. If your film is not yet released, be sure you keep your film private by setting a password on Vimeo or setting it to unlisted on YouTube.

If I’m accepted, can Short of the Week guarantee that my film will go viral?

No, and no one can guarantee that your film will go viral. If anyone tells you differently, they’re simply lying. Number of views is no longer the goal for short films and it shouldn’t be yours. We look to connect your story with producers, agents, and others in the industry who can get you to the next step in your film career.

Do you require any exclusivity?

No. We know how harmful exclusivity deals can be to filmmakers. They can tie your film up in a losing distribution channel for months or years and there’s nothing you can do. At Short of the Week, your film becomes part of our very popular archive that is completely searchable by style, genre, and keywords for as long as you wish it to be. If you land a big deal that requires you to pull your film down, we’ll congratulate you and give you a virtual high-5 not throw a contract in your face. Details are in our human-readable licensing agreement.

Do you only feature one film a week?

Not anymore. Way back when we first started in 2007, we only posted one film a week (hence the name!). But, now, we feature a film almost every day. The “of the week” moniker has stuck, however.